Perishable food items are typically prepared through the application of one or more food preparation techniques or cooking processes to prepare the food items. In such a process, various preservatives are often added to extend the shelf life of such food items. In other instances, such food items are stored in packages that have vacuum-like environments to limit exposure to the ambient air.
Because of the organic origin of some or all of its components, the freshness of a food item typically degrades in quality with time. A food item typically must be stored in some way to permit it to be consumed as intended. To slow the degradation process, and in order to maintain freshness, food items are typically placed in closed or sealed containers, and/or stored or maintained to lessen the exposure of the food items to the ambient air. While it is often possible to limit the exposure of food items to the ambient air at the time of storing a food item in a package, conditions do not permit the use of such protective storage once the package is opened and exposed to the ambient air. In some instances, flexible packages are provided to store food items that can be deformed and resealed to decrease the amount of air in such packages. Although existing flexible packages can readily be resealed, such packages contain an excessive amount of air within the resealed package. As a result, food items stored in the resealed flexible packages are quickly degraded resulting in consumers being prevented from ingesting the food item due to spoilage of the food item.
It is clear that there is a demand for a device and method that extends the shelf life of a food item that has been exposed to the ambient air upon an opening of a flexible package storing the food item. The present invention satisfies these various demands.